Contestants competed in four different categories: the festival beard (started clean shaven on Dec. 19), the voyageur beard (wild, woolly beardness), the novelty beard (groomed beards and mustachios), and the open category where female participants crafted their own beards.

The annual event has become the Manitoba’s mecca for beard appreciation, and raises thousands of dollars for the Heart and Stroke Foundation each year. With plenty of beer, music, and laughter, it’s the perfect excuse to forget the razor and embrace the your inner voyageur. Heho!

MC Gabriel Gosselin and Daniel Leclair, president of the Festival du Voyageur, discuss the success of the festival and get the crowd excited at the 34th annual Beard Growing Contest./SAVANNAH KELLY

Mick Morgan shows off his new beard. It’s the first one he’s ever grown, but just slightly too new to enter the festival beard category./SAVANNAH KELLY

MC Gabriel Gosselin jokes with contestant Daniel Campbell about the key to growing a great beard. “It really comes down to laziness,” says Gosselin./SAVANNAH KELLY

A would-be “beardo” comes face-to-face with a beard growing veteran during the voyageur category./SAVANNAH KELLY